If you look at any home interior magazines, decorator blogs, or TV show in styles that are traditional, modern, or country cottage, I think you'll find one thing in common with all of them...

Wingbacks.

Okay, I'll admit it, I'm currently somewhat obsessed with wingback chairs. I LOVE them, their lines, their dignity and timelessness. *Love* I really want to get two matching wingbacks for our living room, but I need to raise some more Wingback Capital. I've even made a wingback inspiration album. I thought I'd share some of my favorites taking a look at some current trends.

French Linen, Burlap, Coffee Bag Wingback

Popularized by Restoration Hardware and the "deconstructed" movement among decorators, I personally LOVE this style, and would take any one (or two) of these.

Subway Lettering Trend 

Trendy Fabrics

Wingback Beds

Now there's even been a revival of Wingback Beds, which I absolutely love. My husband, who doesn't really care one way or another, stops everytime we're out and about and says, "I bet you like that bed."

It can be masculine with a tweed, linen or burlap


Or feminine with tufting or luxury fabrics like velvet or toile




And you can even make your own!



Or in Leather


Or even Seagrass


Or get the Seagrass Wingback Chair

French Provincial

Always in.

Modern

With it's square edges and clean lines. It may not be my favorite, but it's still beautiful!

Many of you know I've been working on a hall bathroom renovation. That is going painfully slow, mainly due to finances, but also due to my own uncertainty about what exactly to do with it. In the past, I have been known to start a "project" and leave it hanging in a state of half-finished for a very long time. My husband does not appreciate this "process" of decision-making the way I do. With the bathroom, I thought I'd try a new approach.  That is to decide, before starting, exactly what I want for every piece of the bathroom renovation, and to follow my vision step-by-step.

Just in case you forgot, here is the closest "Before" photo I have. At this point, we had already removed those sticky vinyl tiles from the floor:

And here is the Inspiration Board for my dream "After"

Let me break down a little bit what I see for our bathroom.

Flooring: For the flooring, over the salmon mosaic tile (that we considered keeping for authenticity's sake, but decided against) the cararra marble honed hexagonal tiles. Normally, that kind of a choice would be pretty pricey, and out of my range for consideration, but since we're only going to install over the tile portion, and not the wood floor, it's not so bad. 

Faucets, towel bars, knobs, etc: The accessories are going to be clean, shiny chrome (or shiny nickel if I can find something reasonable), which surprisingly is harder to find than I though due to the satin nickel and oil rubbed bronze craze.

Tub: Our bathtub is perfectly fine, older porcelain, but the finish is wearing thin. I am hoping to have it re-glazed, which though pricey, is cheaper than getting a new tub which would be something plasticky on our budget.

Bath surround: I LOVE the subway tile! I can't lie. I don't know if it's a "fad" that will leave my bathroom feeling dated, but honestly, I don't care! It's so classic and fresh feeling! I am going to use a silver colored grout to cut down on the "white-grout fear," and like the top right photo, would like to incorporate a band of the honed marble around the top of the shower.

Chair Rail: At first, I really considered doing a beadboard up to the chair-rail height to hide the scarred wall that was previously covered with salmon-colored tiles (Yuk!). Beadboard is extremely affordable, and easy to install, but the "country-ness" of the beadboard has started to deter me. Now I think I'm going to go with something like a picture frame wainscoting as you can see in the pictures above.

Mirror: I haven't totally landed here, but I have a few ideas. I like the square beveled edge mirror or recessed medicine cabinet pictured above, but would also like something uniquely shaped like Ballard's Victoria mirror (which is out of my price range, would have to bargain hunt for something like that).

Sink: this is a hard one. I really love the sink top that is currently in the bathroom. After looking all over the place, I just love it. It's got a wide area to put your make-up, soap, toothpaste, etc. It's substantial, older porcelain with no noticeable flaws in the finish, and with a new faucet, I think it would look great! The console it sits upon though is another story. Cheap, MDF that is warped and pealing, ew. What I really want is one of those chrome-legged sink consoles like you see in the picture above. Problem is, I haven't been able to find anything even remotely affordable online. It's one dream I don't really want to give up on, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Window Treatments: Since the window is so close to the shower, a more traditional curtain rod and handing curtain would be appropriate. For now, my thought is to do something like a louvered shutter (in a vinyl to deter mold or other moisture-related problems).

Lighting: I love the modern sconces on either side of the mirror. I do want to make sure there's plenty of light for our guests (there's nothing worse than trying to put your makeup on in the dark!). I want to replace the overhead light with a semi-flush chandelier, and install a bathroom fan with a light over the bath and shower.

Decor: I love the glass shelf with chrome supports, also love the hotel-style towel shelf for over the toilet, and since there is plenty of wall space leading into the compact bathroom area, I'm hoping to copy the black and white photos in black frames idea with a gallery wall. I will probably use clear glass and chrome apothecary jars, and a basket for towels and toilet paper. I'd also like to get a chrome and class tiered shelf for storage.